So, Reddit user u/yvngjiffy703 asked in r/AskReddit: "What is clearly a scam but is so normalized people don’t notice?" People (unsurprisingly) had LOTS of thoughts. ... Here are some of their most provocative responses.
1. "Funerals and everything to do with them."
"The funeral industry has WILD pricing. Some of the funeral homes and vendors are even predatory, getting grieving families to pay upwards of tens of thousands of dollars because 'that’s what the deceased would have wanted.'"
2. "Paying for cable TV."
"The whole idea of paying was to create a revenue stream separate from that of marketing. There are a few out there (HBO, I think), but generally, we pay to access the content and still have to spend 20% of the time sitting through commercials. Then streaming comes in, and we're free of advertisements again...for a bit. Now YouTube has tons of ads, and other streaming services are talking about adding ads as well."
3. "Annual college tuition increases."
"Why aren’t they held to a competitive pricing model as opposed to having to take out a mortgage to go to school? Everyone wants to talk about government paying for college education, but there is no conversation on why it's that expensive anyway? Especially when some universities have endowments in the billions — just the interest on those funds could pay the tuition for everyone that goes through the door."
4. "Bottled water."
"Especially in places like amusement parks that mark up the prices a shocking amount. Also, the average markup of bottled water is 4,000%, which is fucking outrageous since water is literally free most places."
5. "The school picture industry. $80 for an awkward picture of my baby? Nah, thanks."
6. "I just paid for the privilege of setting up my router."
7. "Social media."
"Social media is now mostly just a funnel used to ram as many advertisements into your mind as inhumanly possible. 'Sponsored Posts' every third or fourth item? Yeah, I see you. And that’s not even mentioning the extensive filtering network that 'curates' the information you get to see when you are looking for something. 'Curated information' is just a nice expression for you being conditioned to form certain opinions and buy more stuff. Social media grooms minds."
8. "Having to pay $100+ for glasses."
9. "Those registries where people pay money to 'name a star.'"
![Photo of the sky with text that says, "[insert your name here]"](https://img.buzzfeed.com/buzzfeed-static/static/2022-05/23/15/asset/076f98da523a/sub-buzz-536-1653320431-19.jpg)
10. "MLMs (Multi-Level Marketing)."
"They prey on insecure women, specifically army wives, to give in. It’s almost like a cult as they guarantee new friends, lots of free trips, and make $20,000 a month. They are not your friends, the trips are only 'free' if you become a top earner, and the only way to make $20,000 a month is to get a minimum of 100 people in your team to work every single day. Most sales from those companies are from the salesperson who is buying it to sell it, and they tell you that you have to buy more to sell more."
11. "Doing your own taxes, and paying to use a privately owned software (or a service) when the government could totally do it for you, send you the details, and ask if it’s correct."
12. "Reducing a price by one cent to trick our brains into thinking a product costs less than it actually is."
13. "Diamond rings for marriage."
14. "Rent-to-own furniture and appliances."
15. "Manufacturers refusing documentation to private repair enterprises and requiring you to get your products fixed by the dealer. Basically, the reason for the 'right-to-repair' movement."
16. "Minimum wages staying the same while the price of virtually everything else rises."
17. "Printer ink."
18. "Cat food."
"Look at the cat food at a random store, and you'll see how the design brags about all the healthy vegetables they've crammed into your obligate carnivore's diet. Then check out the ingredients and see how corn, rice, etc. are often the first ingredients. Pet foods market toward humans by trying to appeal to human sensibilities, not genuine desire to provide your cat with the best diet."
19. "Most mega churches."
"I remember an interview with Kenneth Copeland talking about how he needed a private jet to spread religion."
20. "The games at fairs and carnivals."
21. "Scientific journal memberships."
22. "College textbook prices."
"It's wild how ridiculously expensive they are. Why put even more of a financial burden on students?"
23. "Unpaid internships."
"Fuck anyone who gives unpaid internships! People get exploited like shit, and for what? I get so irritated when someone posts 'unpaid but you'll be given a certificate.' Shut the fuck up, and do the work by yourself."
—[deleted]
24. "Payday loans."
25. "Homeowner's insurance."
"'Sorry, we're not selling new policies in your area right now because [an earthquake, wildfire, flood, etc.] just happened,' and 'We don't cover that sort of problem,' aka something that the insurance should cover. Also, 'You submitted a claim? We're going to triple your rates FOREVER after this.'"
26. "Loot boxes in videogames."
27. "Lotteries."
28. "Health insurance in the US."
"It costs a small fortune, never covers shit, and you still end up bankrupt if you're not rich and get sick or hurt."
29. And lastly: "Planned obsolescence, where products are deliberately designed to have a defect or worse performance shortly after the warranty has expired."
